This invention relates to retail trading systems.
The invention is particularly concerned with systems for trading large items that need to be delivered to rather than carried away by the customer, and items that may customized at least to some extent or fitted. An example is carpets, which are large and require fitting.
If a carpet retail outlet is to carry a comprehensive inventory of carpets, it must necessarily be housed in premises of some size, which, in a prime shopping area, would involve high rent and rates. It is usual therefore to site such premises out of town. Nevertheless, there are problems involved with the display of many carpets, and customers can find it daunting to select from extensive arrays of patterns, textures and colourways.
Moreover, the carrying of such a comprehensive stock as will at least permit inspection "in the piece" is itself an expensive business.
Accordingly, there is a tendency to sell carpet by sample. The retail premises need carry no or hardly any stock, and can be accommodated in more compact premises far less expensively, even on prime retail sites.
However, a disadvantage of this is that it is difficult for customers to appreciate, from a small sample, how a carpet will look in their room setting, and how it will relate to their furniture and other effects, for example. Sometimes photographs of a "typical" room are included in a pattern swatch.
Sale by sample involves, moreover, the preparation of a transaction record on the basis of a sample identifier--usually an alphanumeric code. The identifier is often on an adhesive ticket, and mistakes can arise through loss of or damage to, misreading or wrongly transcribing the identifier.
The present invention provides a system by which these disadvantages can be avoided.